Mendon girl bitten by black widow spider

MENDON — A family is warning others about the dangers of black widow spiders after they had rush their little girl to the emergency room.

It started about a week ago when Kristine Donovan noticed her 5-year-old daughter Kailyn had a small purple bruise on the back of her knee.

It seemed like an innocent bug bite. But when Kailyn’s school called to tell Donovan she had a fever, they took her to the pediatrician, who told them to take Kailyn to the emergency room.

“They knew it was a spider bite,” Donovan told Daily News partner WCVB-TV. “They didn’t know what spider bite, so they gave her some antibiotics.”

But Kailyn wasn’t getting any better, so they took her to UMass Memorial Medical Center, where an infectious disease doctor confirmed Saturday that what bit Kailyn was a black widow spider.

“I didn’t know what to say,” said Josh Donovan, Kailyn’s father. “It’s not something you would expect, especially in Massachusetts. I’ve never seen it.”

The black mark on Kailyn’s leg was actually the venom from the spider, and if the family had waited any longer, it could have been worse. It is uncommon to be bitten by a black widow spider in the region, but their habitats do extend to Massachusetts according to the Regional Center for Poison Control and Prevention.

After the terrifying ordeal, the family urges others to trust their gut and take any precaution necessary.

“If you think it’s something, just keep looking for an answer,” Kristine Donovan said. “I had a feeling it was pretty bad, and I just kept pushing to have it checked out.”

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